As NASA Prepares For Lunar Mission In 50 Years, Artemis II Crew's Christina Koch Becomes 1st Woman Travelling To The Moon

New Delhi: For the first time in more than half a century, NASA is making final preparations to send astronauts back to the Moon with its Artemis II mission, a historic crewed flight scheduled for early February 2026.

With the launch of the Artemis II mission, astronaut Christina Koch is set to become the first woman ever to venture beyond low Earth orbit and journey to the Moon.

A Historic Flyby

While the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s were defined by twelve men walking on the lunar surface, the Artemis program, named for Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology, was built on the promise of inclusion and long-term discovery. 

Artemis II will carry a crew of four: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover (the first person of colour to fly to the Moon), Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch.

Unlike the eventual landing mission, Artemis II is a high-stakes "test flight." The crew will board the Orion spacecraft, launched by the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. 

They will perform a giant figure-eight loop that takes them roughly 10,300 kilometres (6,400 miles) beyond the far side of the Moon before Earth’s gravity pulls them back home. 

This ten-day mission will test life-support systems, navigation, and communication in the deep-space environment for the first time with humans aboard.

Christina Koch

Rounding out the crew as the mission's only civilian and woman is Christina Koch, a 47-year-old Michigan native who realised her lifelong dream of spaceflight through a distinguished career in electrical engineering and physics.

Before joining NASA in 2013, she spent years working in extreme environments, including a year-long winter in Antarctica, where she served as a scientist and member of the rescue team, and developing crucial instruments for the Juno mission to Jupiter.

Koch is a record-breaker, holding the title for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days) and participating in the historic first all-female spacewalk.

She will now make history again as the first woman to venture into deep space. In 2020, she received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater. Koch is married and lives with her husband in Texas.

Koch’s flight is the vital precursor to Artemis III, currently slated for 2028. It is during that mission that NASA intends to land the first woman and first person of colour on the lunar South Pole, a region rich in water ice that could sustain future human colonies.

Her selection for Artemis II shows NASA’s shift toward a "Generation Artemis" that reflects the diversity of the global population.

The Moon’s Edge

During their flyby, Koch and her crewmates will conduct observations of the lunar surface, looking for landing sites for future missions. 

They will also study the effects of deep-space radiation on the human body, data that is crucial for NASA’s ultimate goal: sending humans to Mars.

As Koch prepares to see the lunar craters with her own eyes, she carries the legacy of every woman who helped build the rockets that once left them behind.

Also Read: Beyond Earth's Orbit: Meet The Trailblazers Of Artemis II- NASA’s First Crewed Moon Mission Since Apollo